It seemed like a good idea…

Failing sucks. We all have a fear of failure, that’s human nature. I had to leave the Los Angeles shoot this past march with the sounds of failure ringing in my ears, being unable to pull off one particularly rad stunt. I was highly invested in the move, as I really, really wanted to pull it off, and I had spent a big chunk of our available time for the video shoot attempting this one trick.

A lot of folks think I’m a trials rider, but I only focused on trials for a about a year as a young kid. I was never very good back then, and while those entry level skills have stuck with me ever since, I definitely do not consider myself a trials rider today.

When I saw this tree, I immediately wanted to jump into the saddle, then jump out to the branch, ride along it, and then jump back down to the earth. I had initially thought I could even 360 off the branch, since it’s a left side drop and I spin to the right. But I couldn’t get onto that dang branch, no matter how hard I tried.

This will forever be the one that got away, at least until I can improve my pedal kicks to make that distance more easily and consistently. I also need to improve my “landing on skinnies” skills. If you’ve noticed a lot of skinnies in my videos recently, it’s because I’m indeed trying to get better!

In a long winded way, this failure was tough to accept at the time, but it is so incredibly motivating to me. When there’s a challenge that I can’t conquer, I love turning that energy into motivation to improve. Oak tree, don’t worry, I’ll be back!